YELLOW roses have a special significance for Ruby and Maurice Richardson.

They are the flowers that made up Mrs Richardson's beautiful bridal bouquet when the couple were married 60 years ago and both wore a yellow rose when they had photos taken to mark their diamond wedding anniversary on Thursday.

It was a doubly special occasion for the devoted pair as it was also Mr Richardson's 85th birthday. The couple, who lived in Victoria Road, Watford, almost all their married life, were engaged on his 24th birthday and wed the day he turned 25.

They met when working in a Watford munitions factory inspecting bomb parts during the Second World War.

Mrs Richardson, aged 86, said: "There was lots of running down to the air raid shelters so we couldn't help getting to know each other."

It was while working at the Novavax factory in Shakespeare Street, north Watford, that Mr Richardson, a mechanical whizz, helped in the invention of the astro-compass, a navigational aid, for which he was presented with £5.

He went on to serve in the Royal Signals and worked as an inspector of aeroplane parts for various companies before joining the Rolls-Royce factory in Leavesden.

Mr Richardson left the company aged 60, when he and his wife travelled to Australia to visit their daughter Maureen and her husband Bill, but on their return he carried on working in the aeroplane manufacturing industry, finally retiring aged 73.

The couple, who have two children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren are well known in Watford, where Mrs Richardson was a regular at Mecca Bingo, in King Street, and Mr Richardson a popular member of the Glen Social snooker club.

Sadly the pair had to leave the town after Mr Richardson suffered a major stoke at a Christmas party in December.

The couple recently moved to Thetford in Norfolk to be near their son Michael, his wife Kathy and family. Mrs Richardson visits her husband twice a day at the nursing home where he is being cared for.

June 26, 2002 18:00